The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-11-25


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any thing but sound. and that the
man only wanted Mr.. Chatham
to back him up. But he thought
differently, and we had q serious
quarrel on the subject At last
he promised me to avoid il. Would
You believe that after that promise he
could go deliberately and involve him
self in itg That was what he did. |
am certain, for in a short time the fine
scheme came to grief, and the same
day Tom was obliged to tell me he had
lost large sum Of money. That was,
you know, the time of his difficulties,
and this loss seemed the crowning
blow. 1t was hard to believe that he
could have so broken his word to me, but
to have him fatty deny it was worse than
all. He told me he had never invested
in the railway, had not lost his money
there, and yet he could not tell me how
he had lost it. Then / gave up every
thing. I could have forgiven any thing
else. / only wanted him to tell me
the truth. l cared nothing for the
broken promises; but to see him stand
ing there with that dreadful set face
saying that he had lost the money; he
could not tell me hOw-he never could
tell me; but not in the railroad, oh,
no! Great Heaven, how could I do it?
How then?' / asked him. Tell me
something. Tom
"Then he muttered something about
bound and 'dishonor, and hid his
face, and l told him 1 cared nothing
for trouble or shame, if he only would
speak. And then he looked up and asked
if I could not trust him. He to talk of
trusting with that shameful secret in
his mindl And yet, o, Mr.. Grey,
sometimes think would rather have
trusted him than"
And here the clear voice faltered, and
the little woman put one hand up to
her eyes, but removed it in some sur
prise as Mr.. Grey brought down his
hand on her disengaged one with a
startling emphasis and the exclama-
ton:
splendid fellow! The dear old
man all overr' Then, conscious of
his slight incoherency:
''Mrs. Chatham, you might have
trusted him, and I can tell you why
say it. A year ago my sister wrote me
| from New York for some money. She
was in great trouble; she had been
foolish in managing her affairs; had
| gone to ruin, in fact. hadn' a penny,
and was just going out to try and help
| her bit, when 1 got n cable: All
right. Have written And when the
4 letter came she told me that my old
! friend Tom Chatham had come to her
! rescue and helped her out She knew
she never could repay him, but she
would work her whole life to do some
thing toward it. Poor little woman!
4 Her life was q short one, for two
months later she was dead. It was
then that your husbands difficulties
came and he needed the sum he had
| given her. She was a proud woman;
\ indeed, the shame she felt so keenAy
was the principal cause of her decline
and she had made Chatham promise
| never to reveal her disgrace, as she
| called ii. He, on his part, was very
anxious that she should not tell me,
! and she had let him believe that she
would not, and begged me to say moth
ing to him about it, which / had re
solved to do till such time as I coulC
repay him; and that by the way will
be, hope, this autumn. So you see,
Mrs. Chatham, it was his promise to
| dead woman that held your husband. :"
! There was silence. Mabel Chatham
was sobbing great fearless sobs thai
shook her slender frame; but when she
! lifted her face at last her first words
were:
"How long will it take to cableP'
1t was a strange chance that on
/ reaching the pension they should find
a letter from Tom Chatham strong,
loving appeal to his wife to reconsider
her decision-a letter which she still
keeps and always viii as a proof Of
her husbands superiority to all the
rest Of the world, even to Ronald Grey,
whose eccentricities, by the way, she
always defends, and whom she has
even pardoned for making her a
"study" for his successful novel
| Providence Journal.